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Max Minckler ’10 (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) will study human rights in Warsaw, Poland, this summer after receiving a Humanity in Action Summer Fellowship. Lafayette is one of two exclusively undergraduate liberal arts and engineering colleges among the 35 institutions whose students were honored.
A total of 59 fellows were selected this year for summer fellowship programs in Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, and the United States.
Through education programs with international leaders, research, and writing, Minckler will spend five weeks of intensive study on past and contemporary minority and human rights issues specific to Poland. The program will also look at general histories and theories of resistance to legal and institutional abuse of minority populations, and the development of international human rights institutions and doctrines after World War II and the Holocaust.
As part of the program, Minckler will establish a satellite group on Lafayette’s campus aimed to further multicultural and transnational interaction. After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school and possibly become an educator at the college level.
For the past two years, Minckler, who is a double major in English and the self-designed philosophy of religion, has performed research with Suzanne Westfall, professor and head of English, as part of the College’s EXCEL Scholars program. He is helping to create the Internet Shakespeare Edition’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is published by University of Victoria in Canada.
Lafayette’s focus on close student-faculty interaction has made it a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the hundreds of students who participate in the honors thesis, independent study, and EXCEL programs each year publish their work in academic journals and present at regional and national conferences.
Minckler is a Marquis Scholar and a Writing Associate for the College Writing Program. He tutors local students and volunteers at Easton’s Third Street Alliance through programs run by the Landis Community Outreach Center. He is a member of the Arts Society and lives in the Arts Houses living community on Parsons Street. He also plays trumpet in the College Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Orchestra, and in the pit for College Theater musicals.
For information on applying for scholarships and fellowships, contact Julia A. Goldberg, associate dean of the College, (610) 330-5521.